OMAHA- Since the COVID-19 vaccines began rolling out last winter, some people who have had COVID have questioned their need to get shots, concluding that they have acquired natural immunity that will protect them from future infection.

One study of people who had had COVID, published this month by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, indicated that more than a third did not develop antibodies to the virus. Other studies show that natural immunity wanes more quickly than vaccine immunity.

At present, there’s no reliable way for someone to know whether a prior infection will provide protection, particularly in the face of the highly infectious delta variant, according to University of Nebraska Medical Center experts.

The upshot: Federal health officials recommend that everyone who is eligible get vaccinated — including those who have had COVID-19 — as the best way to protect themselves and the larger community from COVID.

“There’s so many gray zones in this, it’s difficult to give people iron-clad advice,” said Dr. Mark Rupp, chief of UNMC’s infectious diseases division. “The easiest approach from a population standpoint is oftentimes, when in doubt, vaccinate.”

A Q&A posted recently by Nebraska Medicine, compiled from interviews with Rupp and Dr. Richard Hankins, outlined recent studies on the topic. The experts concluded that COVID-19 vaccines create more effective and long-lasting immunity than natural immunity from infection. Like Rupp, Hankins is a Nebraska Medicine infectious diseases physician.

For the full article click HERE